BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The 2024 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Indoor Track & Field Championships are set to begin on Thursday. Twelve women's teams and eleven men's teams from around the MIAC will compete in the three-day meet held Thursday-Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
The MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships are set to begin on Thursday with the multi-event competitions. The women's pentathlon starts at 2:00 p.m. with the men's heptathlon beginning 20 minutes later. The heptathlon finishes on Friday at 10:00 a.m. Friday's field events start at 2:30 p.m. and track will follow at 4:00 p.m. Saturday's final session starts with 11:00 a.m. field events and 1:00 p.m. track events. Saturday's final set of events - the men's and women's 4x400 relay - will begin at 4:10 p.m.
HANDING OUT THE HARDWARE
MIAC championship plaques will be presented to the first-place women's and men's teams at the conclusion of the meet on Saturday afternoon. Bethel University swept both the men's and women's championships in 2023.
The top three finishers in each event automatically earn All-Conference honors and the 4th-through-6th place finishers will receive Honorable Mention distinction.
Individual awards will be voted on by coaches following the meet and will be announced - along with the complete list of All-Conference and honorable mention recipients - next week.
NATIONAL NOTABLES
Bethel junior Jayson Ekiyor (Dayton, Minn. | Providence Academy) ranks third in NCAA Division III this season with a 60-hurdles time of 7.96 (2/16).
Bethel sophomore Landen Liu (Blaine, Minn. | Centennial) has the second-fastest 60-meter time in NCAA Division III this season at 6.73 (2/3). Liu is also 17th in the country in the 200 meters with a time of 21.69 (1/26).
Bethel sophomore Grant Nelson (Minneapolis, Minn. | Providence Academy) ran the 12th-fastest 200-meter time in Division III this season with a 21.60 on 1/26. Nelson's 400-meter time of 47.61 (2/16) ranks fifth in D-III.
Bethel senior Jacob Parent (New Richmond, Wis.) ranks fifth in NCAA Division III with a 200-meter time of 21.36 (2/16) this season. He ran the sixth-fastest 60-meter time in D-III this season with a 6.80 at the M City Indoor Classic on 12/8. His 400-meter time of 47.70 (2/9) also ranks sixth in the country.
Bethel graduate student Josh Sampson (Arden Hills, Minn. | Mounds View) ranks ninth in NCAA Division III this season with a 60-meter hurdles time of 8.09 (2/3).
Bethel's 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Grant Nelson (Minneapolis, Minn. | Providence Academy), first-year Josh Thomsen (North Oaks, Minn. | Mounds View), graduate student Josh Sampson (Arden Hills, Minn. | Mounds View), and senior Jacob Parent (New Richmond, Wis.) ran the fourth-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season with a 3:12.41 on 2/3.
Concordia senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn. | Wadena-Deer Creek) recorded the 12th-best shot put distance in Division III this season on 2/10 with a throw of 16.72 meters (54' 10.25").
Saint John's senior Kevin Arthur (Champlin, Minn. | Champlin Park) ran the fourth-fastest 60-meter dash time in Division III this season with a 6.78 on 2/16. Arthur also ranks 19th in the 200 meters with a time of 21.70 (2/16).
St. Olaf senior Will Kelly (Golf, Ill. | Glenbrook South) has the 14th-fastest 5,000-meter time in Division III this season at 14:11.39 (1/26). He also ranks 21st in the 3,000 meters at 8:13.07 (2/9).
St. Olaf senior Demetri Lord (Seattle, Wash. | TMI Episcopal) ranks 22nd in NCAA Division III this season with a heptathlon score of 4750, recorded on 12/8.
St. Scholastica junior Trent Beseth (Stanchfield, Minn. | Cambridge-Isanti) is ninth in NCAA Division III this season for the shot put with a distance of 16.83 meters (55' 2.75") (2/10).
St. Scholastica senior Calvin Boone (St. Paul, Minn. | Highland Park) ranks 14th in NCAA Division III with a mile time of 4:07.74 (2/9).
St. Scholastica's distance medley relay team of graduate student Lars DeWall (Stillwater, Minn.), sophomore Noah Kubicek (Owatonna, Minn.), first-year Tucker Wallin (Red Wing, Minn.), and senior Calvin Boone (St. Paul, Minn. | Highland Park) ranks 14th in NCAA Division III with a time of 10:01.73 (2/16).
DEFENDING THE CROWN
Fourteen former individual MIAC champions will be back in action this weekend.
Augsburg sophomore Mohammed Bati (Dodola, Ethiopia | GAP School) is the defending MIAC champion in the 5,000-meter run.
Bethel junior Jayson Ekiyor (Dayton, Minn. | Providence Academy) won the 55-meter hurdles at the 2022 MIAC Championships and the 60-meter hurdles at the 2023 MIAC Championships.
Bethel sophomore Landen Liu (Blaine, Minn. | Centennial) won the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash in his MIAC Championship debut in 2023.
Bethel senior Jacob Parent (New Richmond, Wis.) took home top honors in the 400-meter dash at the 2023 MIAC Championships.
Bethel graduate student Joel Smith (Shoreview, Minn. | Mounds View) won the 600 meters at the 2023 MIAC Championships.
Carleton sophomore Gabe Nichols (Grove City, Penn.) won two conference titles at the 2023 MIAC Championships, placing first in both the mile and 3,000-meter run.
Concordia senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn. | Wadena-Deer Creek) won the shot put at the 2022 MIAC Championships.
Concordia junior Anthony Marsh (Sauk Centre, Minn.) won the long jump competition at the 2022 MIAC Championships.
Hamline senior Michael Braun (Rogers, Minn.) is the defending MIAC champion in the high jump, having won the event in 2023.
Saint John's senior Joe Charbonneau (New Richmond, Wis.) is the defending MIAC champion in the pole vault.
Saint John's junior Zach Schaffer (Chaska, Minn.) won the 2023 MIAC indoor title in the long jump.
Saint John's senior Elijah Wade (Waco, Texas | Vanguard College Prep) won the triple jump at the 2022 MIAC Championships.
St. Olaf senior Demetri Lord (Seattle, Wash. | TMI Episcopal) is the defending MIAC champion in the heptathlon competition.
St. Scholastica senior Calvin Boone (St. Paul, Minn. | Highland Park) won the mile at the 2022 MIAC Championships.
AROUND THE MIAC
Augsburg sophomore Mohammed Bati (Dodola, Ethiopia | GAP School) set two program records at the Snowshoe Open on 2/16. Bati began the afternoon by breaking his own school record in the mile run by more than two seconds, clocking a time of 4:15.20 to finish in third place. Later in the meet, Bati shattered the school record in the 3,000-meter run, another mark that he already owned, by nearly 15 full seconds with a time of 8:24.31. Both times rank second in the MIAC this season
Bethel sophomore Landen Liu (Blaine, Minn. | Centennial) broke his own MIAC record in the 60-meter dash at the Mark Guthrie Legacy Invitational on 2/3. Liu ran the event in 6.73 seconds, besting his previous mark of 6.76 from last year, placing second. That time ranks second in the nation behind UW-La Crosse's Sam Blaskowski, who took first in the event with an NCAA Division III record time of 6.64.
Carleton sophomore Indy Lyness (Silver Spring, Md. | Montgomery Blair) won the 1,000 meters at the Maverick Invitational on 2/16 with a time of 2:33.55. The following day, Lyness placed third in the 800 meters with a college-best time of 1:56.66. That time ranks tenth-fastest in program history.
Concordia senior Cooper Folkestad (Wadena, Minn. | Wadena-Deer Creek) won the shot put at the UND Tune-Up on 2/17 with a heave of 16.26 meters (53' 4.25"). The throw surpassed the rest of the competition by four feet. He recorded his season-best distance of 16.72 meters (54' 10.25") a week earlier to win the event at the SJU Invitational on 2/10.
Gustavus junior Tyler Smith (Liberty, Mo. | Central) placed third in the mile with a time of 4:23.80 at the Maverick Premier #1 on 2/9. Smith then etched his name into the Gustie record books on 2/10, beating the SJU Invitational meet program, the Gustavus program record, and posting a personal best time of 2:30.92 in the 1,000-meter run.
Hamline first-year Jackson Lightner (Eagan, Minn.) won the 60-meter hurdles at the Tostrud Classic on 2/17 with a time of 8.46. That college-best represents the second-fastest 60 hurdles time in program history and is the sixth-fastest time in the MIAC this season.
Macalester junior Arlo Heitler (Hastings, N.Y.) won the 400-meter dash with a personal record time of 49.53 at the Tostrud Classic on 2/17. The time ranks 38th in NCAA Division III this season.
Saint John's senior Kevin Arthur (Champlin, Minn. | Champlin Park) broke two program records as the Johnnies finished second out of 10 teams at Minnesota State's Maverick Invitational on 2/16. Arthur won the 60-meter dash in a program-record 6.78 seconds, which edged his own record of 6.79 seconds that he collected at the Gopher Classic on 2/3. Two hours later, Arthur won the 200-meter dash with a record time of 22.08 seconds. The previous SJU record was 22.19 set in 2019. Arthur is currently tied for fourth in NCAA Division III in the 60-meter dash and 19th in the 200-meter dash.
Saint Mary's junior Chris Bulwa (Glenview, Ill. | New Trier) recorded back-to-back times of 22.42 in the 200-meter dash at the Maverick Premier #1 (2/9) and Maverick Invitational (2/16). That time ranks fifth-best in the MIAC this season.
St. Olaf senior Will Kelly (Golf, Ill. | Glenbrook South) broke the all-time program and conference records in the indoor 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:20.51 at the St. Olaf Invitational and Multi on 1/26. Kelly's converted time of 14:11.39 ranks fourth in NCAA Division III this season. Kelly was the runner-up in the event, finishing less than a second behind a runner from the University of Minnesota.
St. Scholastica junior Trent Beseth (Stanchfield, Minn. | Cambridge-Isanti) placed first in the shot put competition at the Maday Classic on 2/10. Beseth's first huck of the day was the only one he needed, as he willed the shot 16.83 meters (55' 2.75"). This was the fourth time Beseth had broken his own program record this season. His latest throw is tied for eighth on the NCAA qualifying list.
FOR THE RECORD
The MIAC Men's Indoor Track & Field Record Book contains annual Conference championship information and MIAC overall and meet record-holders. The information included in the record book is based on available data and research for additional historical documents is ongoing.